No new signings for Falkirk as Peter Houston accepts budget constraints

FALKIRK manager Peter Houston is happy to accept he will not be able to make any more new signings – because he does not want to be responsible for the club going back to the bad old days.

The Bairns flirted with extinction when they went into administration in 1998 but have since built a sound financial model centred on their community stadium and the development of their own young players.

After finishing second in last season’s Championship, above this term’s favourites Hibernian, Houston’s side narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premiership when they lost their play-off final against Kilmarnock.

Another fight for the top-flight awaits in the new campaign and Houston is confident he has the squad capable of making a concerted push for promotion.

However, despite taking in a reported £300,000 following the sale of Will Vaulks to Rotherham United, the former Dundee United boss insists he will not be asking directors to break the bank for any further recruits.

Houston, who last month made John Rankin his seventh summer signing to replace Vaulks, said: “There won’t be anyone else coming in now, unless somebody else goes out and I’m not expecting that. My budget is spent.

“Falkirk are a club that’s run prudently, we’ve got money in the bank, but there have been lessons in the past when the club was put into administration.

“The board of directors are sensible and I certainly don’t want to be a manager that takes them back into that situation.

“I’ll accept what I’ve got to work with here, with the budget I’ve got, and I think the board have been very supportive, in many ways, since I came here.

“We’ll stick to our principles, with regards to what we can afford to spend. We’ve got to make sure the club is run properly.

Accept

“We accept we’re going to lose players like Will Vaulks, we accept that players will let their contracts run down, like Rory Loy in the past and Blair Alston.

“We have to accept that these kinds of guys might want to move on to something different.

“But we’ll look after the finances more carefully than it was done in the past.”

Falkirk kicked off the new league season with a disappointing 2-1 defeat at home to Hibs but Houston is confident his side can bounce back away to Morton on Saturday.

He added: “When we have everyone available we’ll have a really strong squad and one that is capable of getting us to where we think we can go this season.

“We have to prove that on the pitch, talk is cheap.

“But I think I’ve got a group of players that are hurt by the fact they lost Saturday’s game and they’ll go and try to make amends, starting on Saturday at Cappielow.”